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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
the post of duty. There are those who will not make a charge upon
the enemy when required of God to do so. They will do nothing until
others have fought the battle and gained the victory for them, and then
they are ready to share the spoils. How much can God count upon
such soldiers? They are accounted as cowards in His cause.
This class, I saw, gained no experience for themselves in regard to
warfare against sin and Satan. They were more inclined to fight against
the faithful soldiers of Christ than against Satan and his host. Had they
girded on the armor and pressed into the battle, they would have gained
a valuable experience which it was their privilege to have. But they had
no courage to contend for the right, to venture something in the warfare,
and to learn how to attack Satan and take his strongholds. Some have
no idea of running any risk or venturing anything themselves. But
somebody must venture; someone must run risks in this cause. Those
who will not venture and expose themselves to censure will stand all
prepared to watch those who do bear responsibilities, and will be ready,
if there is a semblance of chance, to find fault with them and injure
them if they can. This has been the experience of Brother and Sister
White in their labors. Satan and his host have been arrayed against
them, but these were not all; when those who should have stood
by them in the warfare have seen them overburdened and pressed
beyond measure, they have stood prepared to join Satan in his work
to discourage and weaken them, and, if possible, drive them from the
field.
Brother and Sister A, I have been shown that as you have traveled
you have been looked up to and highly esteemed, and treated with
greater respect and deference than was for your good. It is not natural
for you to treat with like respect those who have borne the burdens
which God has laid upon them in His cause and work. Both of you
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love your ease. You are not inclined to be turned out of your course
or to inconvenience yourselves. You desire to have things bend to
your convenience. You have large self-esteem and exalted opinions
of your acquirements. You have not had the perplexing cares and
burdens to bear, and the important decisions to make which involved
the interests of God’s cause, that have fallen to the lot of my husband.
God has made him a counselor to His people, to advise and counsel
such young men as yourself, as children in the truth. And when you
take that humble position which a true sense of your real state will